As a marketer, this is probably a question you’ve heard before or maybe even asked yourself. It’s not surprising. In a world that has jumped on the digital bandwagon, less emphasis has been placed on the more traditional marketing channels, almost making them appear obsolete.

I was recently at a marketing luncheon, networking with like-minded marketers while learning the latest and greatest in social media. Out of nowhere, the woman sitting next to me asked the guy across from her, “Does anyone even do direct mail anymore?”

Editor's note: The USPS promotion mentioned in this article has expired. To view current promotions from the US Postal Service, click here.

Direct mail continues to be a strong medium for many of today’s marketers, and the emergence of new technologies is just one of the ways it has remained competitive in an increasingly digital world. Advances in technology now allow the recipients to engage with a mailer via their smart phone or tablet, seamlessly blending the world of print and digital.

With 2016 approaching, it’s time to reflect back on some of the most popular blog articles and videos of the last year. From creative design to mailing to sneak peeks of our team in action, see what others found to be the most enjoyable and beneficial content from Suttle-Straus.

New software systems are great – when your team knows how to use them. When they don’t, one of two things typically happen (and in some cases, both):

1. The data in the system gets messy, or
2. People don’t use it all 

Unfortunately, these aren’t always easy problems to fix once they’ve happened. Investing time and energy into training at the onset, can save you headaches down the road.

The Widen Summit is an annual conference aimed at helping businesses make better use of their marketing systems particularly through content and creative workflows.

Just like in years past, the 2015 Widen Summit was packed with valuable, actionable lessons for those in a variety of roles and industries.

Here’s a quick rundown of our top five takeaways just about any company can take advantage of to improve their marketing performance this year, next year and beyond.

This is part one of a 12-part blog series on making the most of your marketing resource management (MRM) system. Take a second and subscribe to our blog for email updates as we unveil the rest of our series over the next few weeks!

Whether you call it a MRM, a marketing resource center, or something else entirely, all of these systems help companies accomplish a crucial goal: Better control over marketing efforts across multiple locations.

But as helpful as these tools are, they’re only as good as the managers and administrators that keep them running smoothly. Whether it’s keeping users engaged, updating products, or making improvements to the features users rely on most, managing a marketing platform effectively can be a big task.

Have a new printing project on the horizon? Calling your print partner sooner rather than later can save you major headaches down the road. The decisions you make without them can increase the cost of your project and decrease efficiencies.

To ensure a productive conversation, we asked our own reps what questions were most important to address during that first call. Let’s dive in:

A few years ago, showrooming sent shockwaves through the retail world as shoppers started showing up at stores only to whip out their phones to find lower prices online.

Tension is an inherent part of franchising. Franchisors want to maintain standards and preserve the brand while franchisees want autonomy and the freedom to run the business their way.

When a new idea, product or service shows big promise, but doesn’t quite fit in with the brand you’ve built, a well-designed sub-brand can give it the unique identity it needs while staying connected to a brand people know and trust.